


Revenge Return

by tatersalad5001



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Crossover, Depression, Established Relationship, Family, Friendship, Mild Language, Multi, Nightmares, Other Mentioned Characters Not Mentioned In Tags, Post-Canon, Post-Lost Incident, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Canon, Recovery, Trauma, kaibacademy is new domino's version of codecademy but is basically the same website, one gx character is briefly mentioned, this takes place after 5ds ends and before vrains proper starts, twitter exists in this fic, yusei ends up adopting yusaku, yusei meets yusaku when yusaku is 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:33:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26276464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatersalad5001/pseuds/tatersalad5001
Summary: Martha looked away again, towards the kids, before facing Yusei again. “His name’s Yusaku. They found a home, and got some of his things, but there was no one waiting for him. They couldn't find any family of his. He hasn’t opened up much to anyone, he’s still scared, and he wakes up in the middle of the night from nightmares. He hasn’t made any friends, doesn’t seem to want to. He's six years old.”“I don’t know them.” Yusaku told Martha after a couple offered to adopt him. “I don’t know them. If I don’t stay here with you, the only person I want to go with is Yusei. I don’t trust anyone else.”Some days, working hard in the lab, it was easier to forget when progress was slow and things didn’t work right. It was easy for him to get lost in the loneliness that crept up on him a lot of days. The apartment still felt empty with Yusei being the only person living here around 90% of the time. He tried not to think about it much. Dwelling on that could be very depressing, how much Yusei had missed having company here.
Relationships: Fudou Yuusei & Fujiki Yuusaku, Jack Atlas/Fudou Yuusei/Crow Hogan
Comments: 8
Kudos: 65





	Revenge Return

**Author's Note:**

> I started working on and writing this in December 2018. This has been a year and half of work and a labor of love. I really enjoyed this concept and enjoyed writing it. I've put a lot more time and effort into planning, writing, and editing this than I do for most other things that I write and have written. I'm very passionate about this and am excited to see it completed, and this will be probably up there as one of my favorite things I've ever written (one of which I haven't published, but the rest are around on ao3 somewhere, I'm pretty sure). I hope you like it as much as I do, and I really appreciate that you are here to read this. Thank you.
> 
> This is essential an AU putting 5Ds and Vrains together. This all takes place after the end of 5Ds, and takes place around a decade before the beginning of Vrains. I would probably say this takes place at least a year or two after 5Ds, maybe more, but I really don't have any specific timeframe for that in mind. There is one character from GX briefly mentioned to, but said character doesn't actually appear in here, and I also don't have any sort of timeframe for how long this takes place after GX. 
> 
> It would be nice to cross-post this on tumblr, but I'm pretty sure it's too long... but that's okay. I wasn't too attached to that idea, and it's nice to have it posted here. i included an excerpt anyway, [if you're interested](https://datanamines.tumblr.com/post/628493277881040896/datanamines-revenge-return-fandoms-yu-gi-oh)
> 
> In any case, I hope you enjoy!

It was inevitable for the six of them to split up eventually. It was only natural for their lives to diverge.

That didn’t mean that they were no longer friends, that they no longer kept in contact.

But, after it all came to an end, Yusei found himself staying alone in New Domino City.

He’d gotten offers to join the pro circuit, and he could’ve done well, too. Yusei knew that. But he knew dueling wasn’t where his passion truly was. Dueling brought him together with his closest friends, yes. It helped him through his childhood, a means to an end, gave him hope in a world that denied him everything. And he didn’t dislike dueling, it was still fun to him. Maybe it became a bit much after saving the world more than once, too, but it wasn’t that he was burned out, either.

Other things simply called to Yusei more, especially now that the Crimson Dragon was no longer calling himself as well. Yusei had a lot of skill as a mechanic, and still kept up the jobs he’d do here and there. Science, too, drew him in. Dueling connected him to his friends, but science was one of the only connections he still shared with the family he’d never been able to truly meet. Science, dueling sciences, shaped his life in a different way. Plus, he’d promised to work to prevent the horrible future he’d been shown.

He’d still duel his friends anytime he saw them, of course, but Yusei had studied hard, and now worked as a scientist, and as a mechanic.

Though.

The other former Signers had left New Domino City. But they weren’t the only friends Yusei had no, either. Trudge was still here, and he kept in touch with Lazar, the new mayor. And, of course, there was Martha.

Martha was the closest thing to a mother Yusei had ever known. She’d done so much for him, and for Jack and Crow, and Yusei owed her everything. Crow helped Martha out a lot before he left the city, but he was gone now, pursuing his own path. In his absence, Yusei had begun to help fill that hole and help Martha out a little. He was no Crow, of course, but Martha was always happy to have him, and the kids liked him well enough.

Yusei went over to see Martha one day after work, intending to help with the kids like usual. But as he stepped in, Martha pulled him aside. To where the kids couldn’t hear them. She glanced over in the kids’ direction before she told him what was on her mind.

“There’s a new child,” she said. “He was brought here a few days ago.”

“You have enough room for them all?” he asked. Martha would never turn down a kid who needed her, he knew that. But there were already plenty of kids here, maybe she was worried about resources.

“Plenty,” she assured him. “But how much have you kept up with the news lately?”

Not much. Yusei kept himself fairly busy these days, he hadn’t had much time to keep up with the world. Martha scolded him for working himself too hard, but let him off easy; that wasn’t the point right now. Yusei suspected she’d get after him for it again before he left, though (and, later, he turned out to be right on that).

Martha quietly updated him on one of the latest news stories: the Lost Incident. Six children had all disappeared for a long time- too long for anyone, but especially children. They’d only been found recently, thanks to an anonymous tip.

“Most of the kids had families to go back to,” Martha explained. “One went to a different orphanage. He’d already lived there before all of this. But one of them had nowhere to go. They couldn’t find family, or anyone who’d been taking care of him.”

Yusei understood. The new kid Martha had taken in was one of those kids, one of those victims from the incident.

She looked away again, towards the kids, before facing Yusei again. “His name’s Yusaku. They found a home, and got some of his things, but there was no one waiting for him. He hasn’t opened up much to anyone, he’s still scared, and he wakes up in the middle of the night from nightmares. He hasn’t made any friends, doesn’t seem to want to.”

Yusei turned to glance towards the kids as well. He couldn’t see anyone he didn’t recognize; Yusaku must not have been in his line of sight.

“Part of it is because of dueling,” Martha went on. “They found a deck with his things, and gave it to him. He must’ve liked dueling once. But he wants nothing to do with it now. The other kids want to get him to duel, and that’s not helping things.”

“How old is he?” he asked.

“Six.”

He paused at that. Six. The kid was only six years old, and he’s already been through so much. With no one looking for him, waiting for him to come home, at the end of it. Yusei had grown up learning first-hand how cruel the world was, but that didn’t mean he had to like it, even now.

Who knew what actually happened to this kid while he was missing. Nobody actually knew; there were suspicions of a cover-up floating around, according to Martha. From what Martha described of his behavior, it couldn’t be good.

“I know I can trust you with him,” she said. “Which is why I need to ask you a favor. Yusaku needs to go to a therapy appointment tomorrow, I can’t leave the other kids alone.”

There was no hesitation. “I can do it, just tell me where to go.”

Normally, Yusei stayed to help Martha with anything he needed him for, and sometimes he played with and hung around with the kids, too, but otherwise he usually didn't stay long. Today, though, he stayed for a little while longer. He at least wanted to meet Yusaku first. Make sure Yusaku knew who he was. Yusei was no expert in child psychology nor in trauma, but Yusaku probably wouldn’t appreciate going anywhere with a stranger. Any kid probably wouldn’t feel safe doing that.

Yusaku was fairly easy to pick out. Yusei knew all the other kids here already anyway, but even though Yusaku was sitting in a corner, his blue (and pink) hair was hard to miss. Yusei walked over to him.

“Hey,” Yusei said quietly. He crouched down next to Yusaku. “My name’s Yusei.”

Yusaku stared at him.

“I used to live here when I was younger,” Yusei explained. “Martha took care of me a lot. She’s helped me out more times than I can count. You’re in a good place here, I promise.”

He could hear Martha grumble from across the room, something about ‘as if I don’t still take care of you now’ and ‘you boys are more trouble than you’re worth’. He smiled at that.

Yusaku was still staring at him. “What do you want?” he asked flatly.

“I’ll get to the point then.” Yusei’s smile wavered, but it persisted as he aimed it now at Yusaku. “You have an appointment tomorrow, and Martha wants me to take you to it. I wanted to make sure you’ve at least seen me before, know who I am, so you don’t feel like you’re going somewhere with a complete stranger. I’ll bring you back safe and sound, I promise.”

Yusaku studied his face. “I have an appointment tomorrow. Martha wants you to take me. Your name’s Yusei, she knows you.” He nodded. “Okay. I got it.”

At that, Yusaku looked away from him. Yusei stayed there for a few seconds longer, but Yusaku ignored him. He stood up. Well, Martha said Yusaku wasn’t opening up to anyone. He shouldn’t have expected much else.

Yusei didn’t leave right away. He helped Martha out, one of the kids asked to duel him… Up to when he did leave, Yusaku didn’t do or say much. But anytime Yusei glanced over, Yusaku was definitely watching him as well as everyone else around him.

He came back, as he promised, the next day.

Martha and Yusaku were waiting outside for him. Yusei carefully parked his motorcycle, took off his helmet, and got off from the motorcycle. He smiled down at Yusaku.

“You remember who I am, right?”

“You’re Yusei,” Yusaku answered immediately. “I have an appointment you’re taking me to.”

“It won’t take long, and Yusei will bring you back afterwards,” Martha assured Yusaku.

“We can take my motorcycle.” Yusei pointed back to his motorcycle. He’d attached a sidecar to it earlier, and a helmet that should fit Yusaku well sat inside; he’d kept it on hand and used it a few times for Leo and Luna, when they were both still in the city. (Even now, Yusei only drove around in his duel runner, and didn't own a car or any other kind of vehicle.) “Or if you don’t want to do that, we can walk. I don’t mind.” Motorcycles weren’t for everyone. Yusei understood perfectly if Yusaku didn’t like the noise or the speed, or just preferred walking. He'd made sure to arrive with enough time to reach their destination by walking; it wasn't very far from the orphanage.

But Yusaku shook his head. “Motorcycle.”

“Alright then.” Yusei put his own helmet on before helping Yusaku with his, and strapping him into the sidecar. They waved to Martha, and then drove off.

Yusei had complete control over his motorcycle at any speed. Of course that held true for high speeds. Turbo Duels made that level of control a necessity. But he could drive well at low speeds as well, an important skill outside of duels. Regular life had speed limits for safety reasons and all that, and Yusei made a habit of obeying the law these days. But he drove even slower than the limit now. Yusaku said he was fine in the motorcycle, but still, Yusei wanted to make sure the kid would be okay.

Either way, they made it to the appointment in plenty of time.

“I’ll wait right here until you’re done. I’m in no hurry, don’t feel like you have to rush out,” Yusei told him.

Yusaku nodded and went in for his appointment.

Yusei sat down in the waiting room. True to his word, he wasn’t going anywhere. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to do anything, though. He took out his phone and opened up the former Signers’ group chat.

> **The Planeteers**
> 
> **Leo** : if i'm gonna be a professional duelist it doesn't matter if i fail this science exam right
> 
> **Luna** : leo you realize most cities are powered by duel energy now right? that's kind of yusei's job
> 
> **Luna** : and if we want to prevent iliaster's future we need to keep an eye on duel energy
> 
> **Luna** : it's kinda important
> 
> **Leo** : it's not a duel science exam though! it's a physics exam! you know it's physics we're literally both studying for it right now
> 
> **Luna** : i'm studying for it at least, you're just trying to get out of it
> 
> **Yusei** : it's not like you guys have to worry much about the ener-d reactor i've got it covered, you two should just worry about school
> 
> **Leo** : yusei!!! i don't need to know physics to duel right
> 
> **Yusei** : you want to be a turbo duelist right
> 
> **Yusei** : physics is a big part of turbo dueling. how fast you can drive and duel at the same time. how fast you can take different turns. how different conditions change that if your path is icy or you're driving on dirt. or if you get launched in the air. trying to figure out all that while trying to get the first turn before your opponent, and trying to figure out how to win the duel, it helps a lot
> 
> **Leo** : oh yikes
> 
> **Crow** : i never think about any of that stuff and i win my turbo duels just fine
> 
> **Luna** : crow you're not helping
> 
> **Yusei** : you should at least try on the exam, leo. it doesn't have to be perfect as long as you try
> 
> **Leo** : can you help me study then??
> 
> **Yusei** : i'm a bit busy at the moment, sorry, helping martha
> 
> **Yusei** : maybe later

Yusei smiled. Distance, as well as different paths, meant nothing. They were still a team, still great friends, and that meant everything to him.

He was soon pulled out of his thoughts, as well as the conversation. The door from the waiting room to other parts of the building opened, and Yusaku stepped out. Yusei took care of all the end of appointment business. With that finished, the two of them went outside.

“How did it go?” Yusei secured Yusaku in the side car of his motorcycle. 

Yusaku stared silently at him.

“It’s okay if it didn't go well,” Yusei told him. “It takes time for people to understand, and while they don’t, it might be harder for them to help. But I promise I’ll be here to take you to your next appointment, too. And I won’t leave you behind anywhere. We’ll do the best we can for you.”

Yusaku wrapped his arms around himself and stared at the ground.

Yusei didn’t understand, himself. He couldn’t, when he really had no idea what happened to this kid. But he found himself wanting to understand. Yusaku needed help, and Yusei hoped a time would come when Yusaku could make a friend.

He drove Yusaku back to the orphanage, helped Martha with meal preparation before he left, after Yusaku was back safe. Yusaku stuck to himself, ignored anyone who approached him.

Work was keeping Yusei busy, but he came back to the orphanage to take Yusaku to his next appointment.

And his next appointment.

And his next appointment.

Yusaku’s appointments remained a consistent, repetitive thing in both his and Yusei’s lives. Yusei, of course, didn’t mind that at all. Every time, Yusaku and Martha would be waiting for Yusei outside, Yusaku would want to ride in the motorcycle, Yusei would stay in the waiting room until the appointment finished, and Yusei would take Yusaku home.

These appointments were supposed to help Yusaku. In what way, Yusei couldn’t possibly know. He didn’t know what Yusaku was like before his entire life changed like this. All Yusei could hope was that Yusaku would be happier. For now, however, Yusaku continued to stick to himself, rarely talked to anyone, and he never smiled. There didn’t seem to be any improvement.

It wasn’t that Yusei thought Yusaku should be getting better faster. He was simply worried about him, as he had been since the day the two of them met.

Maybe therapy was just taking awhile to help Yusaku.

Or…maybe it wouldn’t be able to help him.

Yusei’s thoughts were spinning circles as the door in the waiting room opened, and Yusaku walked out. As Yusei took him back out to his motorcycle, he had an idea.

“It’s been rough for you, hasn’t it?” he asked. “And, honestly, I’m kind of hungry. You want to get food on our way back? My treat.”

Yusaku nodded.

“Do you want a burger? Or some chicken nuggets.”

“…Nuggets.”

Yusei pulled into the parking lot of McDomino’s, and took Yusaku in to order and get their food. They took their food back outside to eat in Yusei’s motorcycle, though. Yusei didn’t want the crowded fast food environment to cause more stress to Yusaku. As they sat down, Yusei gave Yusaku his Smile Meal, and began munching on his own chicken nuggets.

“…I told you I grew up in Martha’s orphanage,” Yusei said. “My parents died in an accident when I was very young. I lived in a part of New Domino that used to be really rough. Martha did her best to make sure we were never hungry, but I could even tell as a kid that food was hard to get. No one in our area was allowed to duel, no one was allowed to escape, and everyone was always looking for an excuse to give us trouble. I used to look around in junkyards for anything I could find. My friends and I tried to make a change, but one of us got arrested for it. He thought it was my fault he was arrested, and I blamed myself for it every day. He got really sick before I saw him again, and when I did, he hated me. He and I figured it out, though, and we’re friends again now.”

Yusaku stared at him.

“We were able to change things for the better eventually,” Yusei went on. “But a lot of people tried to stop us. Even if we weren’t actually allowed to duel, we did anyway. Somehow, we ended up in all these duels just to save the city, where if we lost it would…be bad.”

Yusaku continued staring at him.

“Life isn’t fair sometimes. I never should’ve had to deal with any of it while I was still so young. And whatever happened to you, you deserve better, too.” Yusei frowned. “It was hard. Still is. But… I never would’ve been able to get through it without any of my friends. Going through it together made it easier, and we stuck by it together through it all. No one should have to go through life alone. I hope you can find friends like that, too. Friends who understand you and who’ll help you no matter what.”

Yusaku didn’t say a word. But he never looked away from Yusei. Not as they finished eating, and not as they drove back to the orphanage.

No one could get a word out of Yusaku for the rest of that day. Yusei didn’t hear him speak until it was time for Yusaku’s next appointment.

“Want to walk.”

That wasn’t a problem. They hadn’t walked before, but Yusei always made sure that they had enough time to walk if Yusaku changed his mind. What concerned Yusei, what interested him, was why Yusaku changed his mind. But, he wasn’t going to get an answer from Yusaku by badgering him with questions. He might not get an answer at all.

“Alright, then. Let’s go.”

Yusaku grabbed Yusei’s pant-leg just to make sure they weren’t separated, and they set off in silence after that.

When Yusaku broke the silence himself, though, Yusei was surprised.

“Why are you here?”

Yusei was suddenly thrust back to his memory of their first meeting. Yusaku had asked a similar question then, trying to gauge his intentions. This question, Yusei assumed, probably went deeper then just why he was where he was in that moment. It was probably more along the lines of, ‘why are you still here now?’ ‘why do you keep coming back?’, or even, ‘why did you open up to me last time?’

“Everyone deserves to have someone in their corner. No one should have to be alone.” Yusei smiled down at Yusaku. “It took me a long time to truly appreciate what that meant, that it applied to me, too. I spent a long time trying to do things on my own just to keep other people safe, while insisting on helping the people around me when they struggled. Because of that, I…almost lost everything, a few times, and my friends were furious. We were stronger together than apart, all of us.” He paused to breathe, he should get to the point. “I was lucky. I always had someone at my side, someone watching my back, even when I didn’t want them there. I still needed them. I don’t know if you have or not. I don’t know what happened. Whatever it is, though, I want to make sure you don’t have to be alone. Even if it’s something small like this, if I can do something to help, you deserve that much.”

If he’d grown up alone, Yusei never would’ve made it this far, or never become the person he was today. He never could’ve helped unite New Domino, or defeat the Dark Signers, or take down Iliastor. He didn’t want to imagine what kind of person he’d be now, or where he would’ve ended up.

Yusaku nodded, but didn’t respond otherwise. He remained silent, both before and after the appointment. Yusei wasn’t sure how he felt about his answer, or how he took it. But even as they reached Martha’s again, he seemed to be lost in though.

Yusei stayed for awhile longer after that, as usual, but when he was ready to leave, his motorcycle wouldn’t start.

“Damn,” Yusei whispered, trying and failing one last time to get it to go.

Thankfully, Martha had a few spare parts laying about, and some tools. Apparently, Martha claimed, it was Yusei’s fault she had any of it around in the first place, and he needed to learn to clean up his junk and not leave it for other people to deal with. Yusei apologized, thanked her, and promised he’d return the favor, which made Martha even more upset. She stated that she hadn’t done anything, and anything more he tried to do than he was already doing would be rejected. And at that, she forced him outside to fix his own problem.

Identifying the problem didn’t take long. Yusei knew what he was doing. It was fixable, thankfully. He was about neck-deep in doing just that when he realized he wasn’t alone.

Pausing, Yusei looked over his shoulder. Yusaku was back outside, staring at him.

“You want to watch?” Yusei asked.

Yusaku nodded.

“You can come over and watch, then. Just don’t get too close, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Yusaku came closer, but still kept a generously safe distance from Yusei and the motorcycle. Yusei continued with his work, but soon, with every step he took to fix the motorcycle, he found himself explaining it all to Yusaku; what he was doing, how he was doing it, why he was doing it. Yusaku asked no questions, but listened attentively and observed carefully. Once Yusei was finished and the motorcycle was running okay, he sent Yusaku back inside and went home.

But, the next day, he found a small, easy, and safe mechanical project and dropped it off for Yusaku to work on and learn from. If Yusaku had an interest in it, Yusei was happy to give him the tools to explore that path.

* * *

> **The Planeteers**
> 
> **Crow** : so yeah. dunno when itll be yet exactly but im definitely visiting soon. make sure the kids at martha’s don’t miss me too much and see how the city’s doing and all that. hang around for at least a few days or something
> 
> **Yusei** : well, you know you’re always welcome here as long as you want to stay
> 
> **Yusei** : but just so you have a head’s up. i told you about the new kid at martha’s, yusaku? he’s still having a lot of trouble adjusting, even though we’re trying to help as much as we can. doesn’t open up much. i just don’t want you to be surprised, is all. he’s like that with everyone.
> 
> **Yusei** : figured out by accident that he has at least some interest in mechanical work the other day, so i’ve been teaching him a little of that? figured maybe exploring an interest would help.
> 
> **Crow** : mechanic stuff huh

Notifications started piling up for a different chat quickly after that. Yusei switched over to read them.

> **Three Bros Chillin In A Hot Tub**
> 
> **Crow** : so when do you want me to start sending over child support to help support our new son?
> 
> **Crow** : might as well teach him all that duel energy stuff while you’re at it
> 
> **Jack** : wait what
> 
> **Crow** : look at the signer chat jack
> 
> **Yusei** : hold on im not adopting anyone! my bike broke down at martha’s and he watched me work on it, that’s all, i didn’t
> 
> **Yusei** : jack we don’t have a new son
> 
> **Jack** : well, you have been spending more time at marthas lately
> 
> **Yusei** : i have?
> 
> **Crow** : you worry about him a lot
> 
> **Yusei** : i do?
> 
> **Crow** : you’ve talked more than once about how you wish you could do more to help him but you don’t know how. you take him to his therapy appointments. now youre training him to be mini you, but the extra traumatized edition.
> 
> **Jack** : im still with you crow i just need to point out on your first point that i don’t think yusei’s capable of not wanting to help anybody
> 
> **Crow** : oh shoot no ur right jack ur right and you should say it
> 
> **Yusei** : i want him to have consistency, martha needs the extra help, he’s actually interested in it and i’m just hoping it helps because ive never even seen the kid smile
> 
> **Crow** : im just teasing, yusei, i promise. i know
> 
> **Jack** : were still going to joke about yusaku being our son though right
> 
> **Crow** : oh yes definitely

Yusei rolled his eyes. Jack and Crow were a nightmare whenever they got like this, whether they were targeting him or each other. Whenever it became mean-spirited it was always out of concern or care, not truly burning anger or hatred or anything like that. They truly cared about each other. Crow and Jack were often just stubborn. (Yusei could admit he could be, sometimes, too.)

> **The Planeteers**
> 
> **Jack** : yusei 2 electric boogaloo

It helped that Jack had his own income to spend on overpriced coffee now.

The waiting room door opened and Yusei put his phone away. 

Yusaku walked through, his appointment over, and approached Yusei. They walked this time, too, so they’d have to walk back as well. Yusaku barely spoke on the way there.

Going back, though, they were about halfway to where they were going when Yusaku said something.

“Don’t wanna duel.”

Yusei blinked. “You don’t have to, if you don’t want to. No one is going to make you if you don’t want to.”

Yusaku tensed briefly, but forced himself to relax as he shook his head insistently. “Don’t wanna duel.”

…Yesterday, a couple of the kids asked Yusaku to duel with them again, and Yusaku didn’t take it well. At all. He shut himself off completely from everyone for around an hour. After Yusei made sure the kids were all fine and handled the others as best as he could, it took his and Martha’s combined efforts to finally coax Yusaku out of it.

Was this about that? Or something else? What Yusaku went through surely was dueling-related, so…

“You don’t like dueling,” Yusei stated. It probably should’ve been obvious that that was what Yusaku meant. He should’ve been able to figure that out.

Yusaku nodded.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry. We’ll try to make sure no one tries to duel you unless you want to. The other kids just want to be your friends, but there’s other things you can do together.”

Hearing that seemed to calm Yusaku down a little. He looked a bit more…relaxed, at ease.

Yusaku kept playing with the small mechanical projects Yusei occasionally brought him. He was fairly good at it, for his age. The kid had a knack for getting things working properly, Yusei supposed. But, they found out, Yusaku was even better at working with technology. Quickly, Yusei found himself sitting next to Yusaku and looking over code that Yusaku had written out on pieces of paper, going over what the code did and any errors in the code, while giving Yusaku new programming challenges to try out.

(Coding was definitely not Yusei's strong suit. He knew a little bit, but Yusaku was much better at it than he was. Thankfully, search engines were free.)

Yusaku still spoke little, but he wrote a lot of code, code incredibly impressive for his age. As time passed, as Yusaku stayed around longer and Yusei continued visiting regularly, Yusaku started to talk a little more and open up little by little.

The progress Yusaku was making was very exciting, for Yusei and Martha at least. Yusaku was less enthused, but then, maybe one day he would be able to really appreciate it.

No matter what happened, time stopped for no one. Life continued on. Martha did run an orphanage. It wasn’t as uncommon as when Yusei lived there for a family to show up looking to adopt, but it still wasn’t an often occurrence. Even when it did happen, Yusaku specifically was someone who needed a lot of help and care, and that wasn’t always cheap. Anyone looking to adopt usually paid more attention to the other kids.

But, one day, after two years passed, things started to look up. It really did happen. A couple wanted to adopt Yusaku, get him the best help possible, and could certainly afford to do all that. Everything was looking good.

Martha asked Yusaku how he felt about it, what he wanted.

“No.”

Yusei was floored. Yusaku could finally have the support system, the family, he needed and deserved. Why would he not want that?

“I don’t know them.” Yusaku was eight now. Had made some more progress. He spoke a bit more than he did when he first met Yusei, but still didn’t truly open up much. “I don’t know them. If I don’t stay here with you, the only person I want to go with is Yusei. I don’t trust anyone else.”

He didn’t give much more than that. Not why he wouldn’t open up to these new people, or why he trusted Martha and Yusei but no one else. As Martha relayed this to him, Yusei felt like the floor was falling from under his feet.

“If you want, he’s willing to let you adopt him. He’ll go home with you. No one else, though.” Martha shook her head. “Most kids would love this opportunity. Poor kid.”

Yusaku liked him that much? Yusaku trusted him that much? Yusei had really had no idea.

“I don’t want him to make any decisions, or me to make any decisions for him, that he’ll regret later,” Yusei told her. “What if he…visits my place, on one of my days off? See how he likes it, see how he feels about it? We can figure it out from there. And he can always change his mind later, too.”

Yusaku kept a tight grip on Yusei’s pant leg as Yusei opened the door to his apartment and turned on the lights.

It wasn’t much. He was still living in the same place he, Crow, and Jack had been renting during the whole WRGP business. The place still belonged to all three of them, Jack and Crow regularly sent over their share of the rent no matter how much Yusei said they didn’t have to, that he could afford it himself. The other former Signers left the city a while ago to live their own lives, chase their own dreams. But Yusei’s dream was here. Any time any of them visited, they had a place here, in this apartment. As much as he missed them, he was happy to see them so happy, and to be able to pursue his own happiness.

The apartment still felt empty, lonely, with Yusei being the only person living here around 90% of the time. He tried not to think about it much. Dwelling on that could be very depressing, but bringing Yusaku here really made it obvious. It highlighted just how much Yusei had missed having company here.

As hard as it was sometimes, change never stopped happening. Time couldn’t stand still.

Yusaku looked at everything with awe. Motorcycles, computers, kitchen appliances, beds, windows, the toilet. And honestly, when Yusei walked in here for the first time, knowing that this was a place the owner would allow him to live in, that they could afford to rent, he’d felt the same way. He never had any of this until he was much older than Yusaku was now.

The kid paused, though, at a certain wall. Yusei, Jack, and Crow had hung up posters about the WRGP there, when it was first announced. The moment they first heard about it, it was inevitable that they would compete as a team. They were unstoppable together, their connection unbreakable and unbeatable. Now, Yusei had pictures hung up around the posters. Pictures from during the event, before, after. Some his own, some grabbed from his friends’ social media. They were all pictures of his friends, sometimes with him in them as well, together and happy. Even if they weren’t here now, Yusei refused to let their presence fade from his home, or to forget what he was working towards.

Friendship. Happiness.

Some days, working hard in the lab, it was easier to forget when progress was slow and things didn’t work right. It was easy for him to get lost in the loneliness that crept up on him a lot of days. But still, Yusei refused to completely succumb to that feeling. This wall actively reminded him every day, and he was still glad he put the wall together.

Yusaku stared up at the pictures.

“They’re my friends.” A picture of Leo and Luna, from a birthday party, caught Yusei’s eye. He smiled. “They’re not in New Domino now, but they still mean the world to me. I never would’ve made it where I am now without them.”

“This one.” Yusaku pointed at an older picture, Yusei and Jack just after Yusei won the Fortune Cup. “You have a birthmark on your arm. That one.” Now he pointed at a picture of Yusei and Bruno working on everyone’s bikes for the WRGP. “It changed.” Yusaku turned away from the wall to look at Yusei. “You don’t have it anymore.”

That was true. When the Crimson Dragon released them, their Signer marks disappeared. 

“It’s a long story,” Yusei answered. “But I’ll tell you, if you want. It ends well, but there’s lot in the middle that was upsetting, made us struggle. It’s not the happiest story.”

Yusaku nodded.

Yusei put together lunch as he explained, made sure Yusaku was able to sit somewhere he could watch Yusei throughout the process. It was important to go into some of the background details of the Satellite, and the Enforcers, before it all started. Before it all started when Jack left for good with Yusei’s bike and a precious card, his partner, Stardust Dragon. The Fortune Cup, to find the identities of the Signers. The rise of the Dark Signers. Some of the first meetings with the Dark Signers.

“We ran into Kalin. The fourth member of the Enforcers, the one Sector Security arrested. Someone becomes a Dark Signer when they die, but they still have something keeping them going, something that they have to do, that the Earthbound Immortals take advantage of. Kalin wanted revenge against me. He died in prison thinking I turned him in.” Yusei’s hands went still. He looked at the wall. “I don’t know how…real, the whole thing felt, before we found Kalin again. Before I dueled him. If you lose in a duel against a Dark Signer, you lose everything. That’s it. I was in over my head. I thought I could win, but I had no idea what I was really getting into. I dueled against Kalin, in a Turbo Duel, and the only thing that saved my life was my bike crashing so hard that it stopped the duel. It took a long time for me to recover, and not just physically. I’d dueled in some pretty desperate situations up until them, but I was never as afraid to duel as I was after that crash. I didn’t think I could ever beat Kalin. I didn’t think I could win.”

But he dueled again, and he won. And the Dark Signers were all defeated until the last Dark Signer, and the last Signer, was revealed. Goodwin lost, too, and the Crimson Dragon gave Yusei the mark Goodwin had had, the dragon’s head, while Crow took Yusei’s place as a new Signer. Iliastor was after that, with their time travel and their strategies to take down Synchro Monsters. In their time, everything had been destroyed because of dueling, because of Ener-D. If they destroyed the Ener-D reactors in Yusei’s time, and New Domino with them, the future could be saved.

“They were so focused on their goal they forgot how to change, how other people could change, too. They forgot to hope. Hope for a different future, a better future, now that we’re working to avoid it.” Yusei flipped the burgers onto two separate plates. “Time keeps moving forward. Destiny leads us to a new destination. But we’re never truly bound to destiny. The future can change, destiny can be rewritten. We helped them remember that, we helped them find faith again. And now, we’re working every day to change destiny. For a better future.”

And after that, the Signers were no longer needed by the Crimson Dragon. They were free, to live their own lives. Their marks were gone, but the memories, the knowledge of what was coming further ahead, that all stayed with them.

Yusaku was very quiet as he took it all in, processed it all. Even as he finished eating. It was only later, when Yusei and Yusaku were going over the same sort of thing Yusei would show him normally at the orphanage, that Yusaku finally said something.

“Do you hate the Crimson Dragon? The Dark Signers? Zone? For putting you and the people you care about in danger?” Yusaku was watching him very closely. It was like Yusei was a kid again, being interrogated by Martha after doing something he wasn’t supposed to do.

Yusei looked away, and gave the series of questions serious consideration. “Even if I wasn’t a Signer, I wouldn’t have been able to stand back and do nothing. I still would’ve tried to do everything I could. Maybe that’s why the Crimson Dragon chose me in the first place.

“Even without that, no. The Crimson Dragon brought Jack, Crow, and me back together again. The dragon brought me together with some of my closest friends. It was risky. It was hard. But the world’s a better place for it, and I think we’re better for it, too.” Yusei sighed. “But for a long time, I was part of a team. I don’t have quite the same bond with anyone I work with now. I miss them, actually being around them. Trust me, I’m glad that it’s all over and we all get to chase after our own happiness now. I don’t regret any part of it. But now, after everything, I guess I sometimes get a bit lonely.”

Yusaku didn’t ask more questions about Yusei after that. Yusei was fine with that. He wasn’t sure how Yusaku was taking it all in, but it really wasn’t the best story for kids. He hoped Yusaku wasn’t too freaked out or anything.

A few days later, Yusaku told Martha he wanted to live with Yusei. The process of making that happen didn’t take too long.

> **Yusei** _@yuseifudo 2h ago_  
>  super();
> 
> **Yusei** _@yuseifudo 2h ago_  
>  This isn’t kaibacademy. What is this?
> 
> **Yusei** _@yuseifudo 2h ago_  
>  It does pictures. [Image attached: Yusaku is staring blankly at the screen, not quite at the camera. From the background, it’s obvious he is in Yusei’s apartment, to anyone who has been there.]
> 
> **Yusei** _@yuseifudo 2h ago_  
>  This is a Yusei thing. I’m sorry. I found kaibacademy again.
> 
> **The Planeteers**
> 
> **Leo** : **@Yusei** hey you look different. [Link attached]
> 
> **Luna** : it’s always fun to do something different with hair, the moisturizer you’re using makes you look so young, i support you
> 
> **Leo** : but really yusei we’re dying to know and we can’t wait anymore who are they
> 
> **Luna** : I didn’t realize you were a dad now Yusei!!

Yusei rolled over and squinted at his phone. Right. Being awake. He still felt more asleep than awake, but what time even was it? He picked up his phone to check the time. Great, it was later than he would’ve preferred to wake up.

And he was immediately distracted from seeing notifications from the former Signers group chat. What?

> **The Planeteers**
> 
> **Yusei** : wh
> 
> **Leo** : there you are did you just wake up???
> 
> **Luna** : you work way too much yusei
> 
> **Yusei** : right. maybe. what happened?
> 
> **Leo** : see for yourself check your twitter
> 
> **Luna** : apparently a kid got on your twitter account and there was a picture and they were in your apartment?
> 
> **Yusei** : wait yusaku?

By now Yusei was up and alive, somewhat coherent. Standing with a glass of milk in his hand. He switched briefly over to his Twitter account and checked his tweets. He smiled. What happened was probably that he left Twitter open on the computer by mistake, and Yusaku switched over to it by accident. No harm done. It was funny more than anything. He didn’t do a whole lot on Twitter, and as long as no one was trying to make a big scene out of anything, it was all fine to him.

“Sorry,” Yusaku apologized before Yusei even had a chance to say anything. “I got on your bird site by mistake. I didn’t mean to.”

“Hey, no harm done.” Yusei put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Twitter’s probably not the best place for you to be spending time by yourself, but I know it was an accident.”

The next time he looked at his phone, there were more notifications from the group chat.

> **The Planeteers**
> 
> **Yusei** : wait yusaku?
> 
> **Yusei** : yeah that was just yusaku it was an accident it’s all fine
> 
> **Luna** : the kid you take to his appointments?
> 
> **Leo** : yeah but he was in your apartment in the picture is he just visiting or
> 
> **Jack** : HOLD ON YUSEI
> 
> **Yusei** : it’s a long story
> 
> **Jack** : HOLD ON
> 
> **Yusei** : but someone wanted to adopt him, he didn’t want to go through with it, martha and i talked to him about the whole idea of anyone adopting it, he took the time to think about it, and he decided he wanted to live here. we worked the whole thing out after that and he’s here now
> 
> **Luna** : i was joking earlier about you being a dad now but you beat me to the punch
> 
> **Luna** : but congrats!!!!
> 
> **Yusei** : don’t worry i’ll save you a glass
> 
> **Jack** : WE HAVE A SON NOW AND YOU DIDN’T THINK TO TELL US SOONER
> 
> **Crow** : becoming a dad is a bit of an important detail to know yusei
> 
> **Yusei** : sorry guys. really. it’s been busy over here and i honestly forgot but i’ll try to be better about sharing information in the future
> 
> **Yusei** : and you two don’t have to do anything. it’s not fair of me to dump all this on you for a kid neither of you have even met, i can handle this on my own it’s fine
> 
> **Crow** : more evidence that you should definitely work less you're wearing yourself out
> 
> **Crow** : i know you tend to try to do everything on your own yusei but really, come on
> 
> **Jack** : as if we’re going to abandon you and have absolutely no part in the kid’s life
> 
> **Crow** : we’re a team we handle everything together
> 
> **Yusei** : if that’s what you two want it’s definitely fine with me. i appreciate it. but if either of you try to give up your careers because of us then i’ll never speak to you again don’t you dare give up your dreams
> 
> **Crow** : yeah yeah just stop trying to do it all yourself alright
> 
> **Jack** : really, yusei, you’re smarter than that

* * *

A scream in the night woke Yusei.

It wasn’t loud, and everything was quiet after that. He almost thought he imagined it, but it was impossible to be sure. He needed to check on Yusaku, just in case. So Yusei rolled over, got out of bed, and went to see how he was.

He opened the door to the former guest room to see Yusaku staring silently at the wall, drenched in sweat. As he heard Yusei walk in, Yusaku’s eyes locked onto him.

“Are you okay?” Yusei asked.

Yusaku didn’t answer.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

Yusaku nodded.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Yusaku shook his head.

“Do you want a hug?”

Yusaku shook his head.

“Would you like some milk?”

Yusaku nodded.

Yusei quietly led Yusaku to the kitchen. After opening the fridge, he scanned its contents. They were low on eggs, Yusei would need to pick up more soon, but there was almost a full gallon of milk. Yusei poured two glasses and gave one to Yusaku. He kept the other.

The two of them sat down at the small table at the edge of the room. Yusaku sipped his milk quietly through a straw.

A few years had passed since the incident Yusei still knew nothing about, but Yusaku still had nightmares about it. Yusei would've been surprised, if he didn't still have nightmares surrounding events from years ago himself.

“New Domino was a very different place when I was growing up than it is now.”

Yusaku looked up at him as Yusei spoke.

“It split into two parts: the city itself, and the Satellite,” Yusei went on. “I was born in the city, but I was sent to the Satellite before I can even remember. And I grew up in the Satellite.” He smiled fondly. “She practically raised me, and two of my best friends, Jack and Crow. The three of us are still a team now. We’re partners. I’m sure you’ll meet them eventually, because they seem excited to get to know you.”

Yusaku didn’t respond, but he watched Yusei closely, hanging onto every word.

“Anyway, the Satellite wasn’t a good place to live then. It was a struggle just to survive, and there were all kinds of rules and curfews put on us by the city. We basically had nothing. We clung onto each other, and what little we had or what we could find. Lots of us went to jail for just trying to do that.” Yusei stared down into his milk. “Trust me, I’m glad that’s not the kind of place you’re growing up in. But my friends and I, we dreamed of a better world. A better Satellite, united with New Domino and safer. So we- Jack, Crow, me, and our friend Kalin- we started a duel gang. The Enforcers. Dueling was one of the few forms of rebellion and sources of hope we had back then. We were drawn to it like moths to a flame. Duel gangs were common, but we worked towards our dream, and we succeeded.”

Yusaku’s milk was about half-gone.

“We succeeded. But Kalin wanted to take things too far, and the city didn’t like what we were up to. They tracked us down to our hideout. Kalin was our leader, and they were after him. My plan was simple. I was going to pretend to be the leader so the others would be safe. I couldn’t let anyone but myself get sent to jail. But they got to Kalin first. He went instead of me, and he thought I turned him in to the police. He thought I betrayed him. And he went to jail, and he never made it out alive.”

Yusaku stared at Yusei with huge eyes. Yusei found it hard suddenly to look at him.

“I didn’t actually turn him in, it was a misunderstanding. But it’s what Kalin believed,” Yusei said. “It wasn’t my fault, but a lot of times it’s hard not to blame myself. And a lot of nights, I still hear him while I’m asleep, thinking I betrayed him and blaming me for everything.” Yusei sighed. “Dreams are rough, a lot of the time. But they always end. And I’ll always be here for you when you wake up if you need me.”

Yusaku reached across the table and put his hand on top of Yusei’s.

* * *

There was a knock at the door. Yusei answered it.

On the other side was...

“Yusei! It’s been way too long, man, it’s good to see you!”

Yusei grinned at Crow. “Same for you. It’s always nice to have you home.”

Crow and Yusei high-fived, then pulled each other into a hug.

Yusaku watched this all from a few feet away.

When Crow noticed him, he knelt down to be closer in height to Yusaku. “And you, too. It’s nice to finally meet you, Yusaku. I’ve heard a lot about you, you seem like a great kid. I’m Crow.”

Yusaku looked at Crow, then at Yusei. “You’re one of Yusei’s partners.”

“Heck yeah I am!” Crow beamed. “I wish we could’ve met sooner, but life is crazy, you know?”

Yusaku nodded. “It’s okay. It’s nice to meet you.”

“You, too, little guy.”

Yusaku smiled. 

As Yusei watched the conversation, he couldn't help but think about how Yusaku wasn't quite as little as he used to be at the orphanage. Seeing Yusaku's smile warmed his heart, too. He still didn't smile often, but it was easy to tell he was happier now. Turning his attention back to Crow, Yusei crossed his arms. “I’m guessing you’re going to want to duel like usual, Crow?”

“Of course!” Crow replied.

Yusei looked down at Yusaku. “Do you want to watch the duel? You can, but if you don’t want to it’s okay.”

Yusaku shook his head.

“Alright. We’ll let you know when we’re done. And after that, I’m sure you and Crow will have lots of catching up you’ll want to do.”

Crow and Yusei both made sure Yusaku was set up with a glass of milk, a bag of baby carrots, and a large container of Legos, one of Yusaku’s current favorite pasttimes. They didn’t duel too far away from him, but they wanted to make sure he was as happy as possible.

“It’s been _ages_ since I dueled,” Yusei commented as their duel began. “Hope I’m not too rusty.”

“Yeah, Yusei, you’re so rusty. It’s like you don’t know how to play at all anymore,” Crow said sarcastically when a few turns later, Yusei summoned Junk Berserker to the field.

They both laughed over it, though. The outcome of the duel didn’t matter. It was so refreshing to know they’d reached a point where that could be true. They’d come so far. Now all that mattered was that they both had fun, and dueling was always fun for them.

By the time their duel was over, Yusaku’s glass of milk was empty, half his carrots had been consumed, and he’d constructed a solid foundation for a Lego house.

“Whoa, that’s a pretty big house you’re making,” Crow told Yusaku.

“It has to be,” Yusaku told Crow without stopping his work. “I’m building home. Big enough for the family. Me and Yusei. You and Jack. His other friends, too.”

Crow wiped a tear from his eye. “That’s really sweet of you, bud. You’re really kind.”

“Oh, uh… thank you.”

Yusaku already considered Crow family. Crow was genuinely touched by that, Yusei could tell. Yusei himself couldn’t be happier; two of his favorite people in the world were already getting along so well.

The three of them hung out for the rest of the day. Their little family ran on smiles the entire time. Yusei’s heart hadn’t felt so light in months.

* * *

Yusaku woke up in the middle of the night.

Yusei was quickly there to help him calm down. And before long, the two of them were sitting in the kitchen, each with a mug of hot cocoa.

This was a frequent event by now. Even when four years had gone by since Yusaku had been rescued, he woke up with nightmares more frequently than not. It always took him time to come back to reality, realize where he was, that he was safe now. Yusei was always there to help him calm down, and no matter how tired Yusei was, he never was upset and he never blamed Yusaku for it. How could he? Yusaku had suffered so much already. Whatever he has been through, Yusei knew how it felt to have hope slip through your fingers while it felt like the world was turning its back on you.

All Yusei could do is try to be the kind of parent he wished he had when he was younger; patient, kind, and supportive. All he could do is try to be the kind of guardian Martha was for him. He hoped it helped, as little as it was.

Every night that Yusaku was awoken by his nightmares, once he was calmer and had returned to reality, Yusei asked him if he wanted to talk about it. If talking about it would make him feel better. Yusaku always refused. Yusei never pushed, but he always made sure to ask, to let Yusaku know the option was always there.

And then, one night…

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Yusaku took it.

He didn’t say anything at first after Yusei asked the question. He didn’t respond in any way. He just stared into the mug in his hands.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Yusei told him. “I understand. But if you think it’ll help, or you just want to, I’m here to listen.”

Yusaku’s gaze remained firmly on the mug in his hands, even as he started to speak.

“…They put me in a white room. Nothing in it but a VR headset.”

“This was in the dream?” Yusei asked gently. He didn’t want to interrupt Yusaku, but…he needed to be certain what they were talking about.

“Mmhm. But it was real, too. Before I met you. After I got taken.”

Before he met Yusei, after he was kidnapped. For a second, Yusei felt like he couldn’t breathe. This was the Lost Incident. This is what Yusaku went through during the incident, and he was still having nightmares about it now. It wasn’t that Yusei was surprised. He’d been fairly certain the incident was the source of the nightmares, but now was Yusaku not only confirming it, he was telling Yusei what happened. Despite Yusei’s suspicions, it was still hard to hear.

His chest felt heavy. It had to be way harder for Yusaku to tell him. He was certain of that. Especially because Yusaku was the one who lived it. That only made it harder to hear, though.

But he listened. He listened to every word Yusaku said. It was all he could do.

“The headset showed me a duel field. I had to duel,” Yusaku went on. “And I was supposed to win. I had to.”

“You had to?” Yusei repeated.

“If I won a duel, I got food. But if I lost, or it was a draw, I got almost nothing. If I didn’t win, I went hungry. And if I didn’t win, I got electrocuted. And for a long time, I lost a lot. I was weak and tired and hungry and the more I lost the harder it was to focus enough to win.

“I never saw anyone else. I never heard anyone else until I was so tired and hopeless that I started to give up. A voice told me to find three reasons to survive. I did, and that kept me going. But I never heard from them or anyone else after that.

“I dueled so much that I got better. I got good enough to win every duel, because I couldn’t afford to lose. I won because I had to. But being trapped there, punished for losing, it still happens in my dreams, like I never left. It feels like I didn’t, like I’m still trapped there. I don’t…” Tears filled Yusaku’s eyes. “I don’t know how to move on from it. I don’t know if I can.”

Yusei was feeling teary-eyed himself. This poor kid had suffered through so much at such a young age. He deserved so much better.

He reached out to gently grab one of Yusaku’s hands. “I’m so sorry. If there’s anything I can do, I promise I’ll do whatever I can to help. We’ll figure this out together.”

Yusaku looked up at him. He stood up and he pulled Yusei into a hug.

“You’ve already helped a lot. Thanks, Dad.”

Yusei had always been careful to give Yusaku whatever space he needed. The two of them had never hugged before. Yusaku had always been free to call him whatever he wanted, but he always called him ‘Yusei’, never ‘Dad’. Those two changes meant a lot to Yusei. Just as he was sure it meant a lot to Yusaku, too.

Yusei just wished it was under better circumstances.

Now they were both crying. Some of their tears shed over the past that Yusaku had suffered through. Some shed over the present and how Yusaku still couldn’t overcome his demons, how he was still suffering now. But not all the tears were sad. Some of those tears were happy, too, that they had each other.

Yusei hugged Yusaku back firmly. Neither of them were going anywhere. They were a team now, they were a family. And that meant they would face everything together.

* * *

It had been far too long since the three of them were in the same room together.

Now, Crow and Jack were within arm’s reach, and Yusei wanted nothing more than to scoop them up in a hug, to embrace the happiness he felt being reunited with the loves of his life both at once. But that would wait.

First, introductions were in order.

Jack was conscious of that fact before Yusei even was. When the door first opened, Yusaku was waiting with Yusei, hiding behind his legs. Jack could seem intimidating to someone who didn’t know him, especially someone young and small like Yusaku was, and Yusei figured that must be how Yusaku was feeling now. But Jack figured the same thing. He immediately knelt down so he was nearly eye-level with Yusaku.

“You must be Yusaku. Nice to finally meet you. I’m Jack.”

Yusaku stared at Jack. “You’re Yusei’s partner, too.”

“That’s right.”

“…Which means you should’ve gotten over here to meet him sooner.” At Jack’s glare, Crow amended his previous statement. “We both should have, I took to long to come over and meet Yusaku, too. Sorry, Yusaku. Guess that doesn’t make the best impression for either of us, huh?”

Yusaku shook his head. “You’re both nice. I like you. We’re family.”

Nothing warmed Yusei’s heart more than hearing that. “Yusaku’s really shy, he had it tough for a while.” Tough was an understatement. “But he’s a sweet kid. He’s been worrying about our whole family liking him.”

“Are you kidding? We already love ya, buddy!” Crow flashed Yusaku a huge grin.

“If there’s one thing you don’t have to worry about, it’s that,” Jack added. “By now, I’ve learned that you never have to doubt the love of family. Even when Crow’s nagged me over expenses, which by the way I now pay for with my own money just fine thank you very much, and even when I’ve made the worst mistakes of my life, we’re still here, and we’re still a family.”

Yusaku looked up at the three of them, tears filling his eyes. “Thank you.”

Maybe, from an outside perspective, it might seem like Jack had grown and matured a little over time. But Yusei knew better. He had both the exclusive interview and the front-row seat. He knew Jack was the same old Jack.

No matter how much Yusei insisted he didn’t want to force Yusaku to be as big a part of Jack and Crow’s lives as he was in his, no matter how much he insisted they didn’t have to take on the full role of parents, Crow and Jack insisted on doing the best they could to be part of Yusaku’s life as well. Crow already met Yusaku before now, and the two had gotten along well enough. But Jack had been nervous about meeting Yusaku. According to Jack, he didn’t do as well with kids as Crow and Yusei, and he didn’t want to make a bad first impression. Yusei couldn’t count the number of times Jack had asked for advice leading up to this moment.

Okay, well. Maybe it was a sign Jack had grown a little bit, that he was asking for advice at all. That was hard for Jack to do. But really, Jack was still Jack.

The three of them were doing their best, as a team and a family, even when they were separated by the different paths they had chosen. Yusei couldn’t ask for more from Crow or Jack; they were already doing more than enough. All Yusei could hope was that he was doing enough, too. That he was living up to being the kind of person Yusaku needed in his life right now.

Looking at Yusaku’s face, though, it was hard in that moment for Yusei to believe he wasn’t.

Jack, Crow, and Yusei shared a big, long, group hug. Yusei asked Yusaku if he wanted any hugs, too, but Yusaku had declined. Yusei wasn’t really surprised by that. Yusaku wasn’t big on human contact; never had been, still wasn’t. Small bits of contact here and there were fine: holding hands for safety, making contact so Yusei could help Yusaku ground himself after a nightmare. Hugs were a lot, though, and that was fine. The three of them could hug. Yusaku was just happy they were happy.

Then, of course, one thing led to another, arguments were had, and somehow Yusei found himself being roped into a free-for-all 3 person duel. Against Jack and Crow. If he were surprised at this point, he’d be insane.

Yusaku seemed nervous when the topic came up. Yusei had a better idea of why now than he did the last time he’d dueled, against Crow. He sat down next to Yusaku. “You don’t have to duel with us. It’s just me and Jack and Crow. Winning and losing doesn’t matter here. You don’t have to watch if you don’t want to. You can color, play a game, watch a movie…”

Yusaku glanced over at Yusei. His expression didn’t change. “Dueling’s important to you.”

Yusei blinked. Maybe, this time, Yusaku understood Yusei’s relationship with dueling more than before, too. “Uh, yeah. It is. It’s a big part of the bond we share, in many ways, and in different ways than your own experience with it. It helped bring us together more than once.”

“I…” Yusaku hesitated, but then his nervousness settled a bit. “I want to see that for myself, too,” he decided.

“Are you sure?”

“Maybe it can bring us closer together, too,” Yusaku mumbled.

No matter how many times Yusei asked, Yusaku didn’t change his mind. So Crow, Jack, and Yusei dueled. And for the first time in years, Yusaku watched a duel. A duel without stakes.

The duel ended eventually. Yusei couldn’t remember who won. It really didn’t matter. The four of them had one of the most fun nights Yusei could remember. As long as Yusaku was okay, those were the only two things that mattered.

Crow and Jack continued to visit as often as they could after that. Sometimes separate, sometimes together. And sometimes, Yusaku and Yusei didn’t see one or both of them for months or longer, but that was fine. They were going down different paths right now.

Of course Yusei missed them. Of course he wished he could see them more. But that wasn’t anyone’s fault. He enjoyed the time they did get together, and he watched as many of their duels on TV as he could. They were leading the lives they wanted to lead, and they were happy, and that made Yusei happy. There would always be the next time they were together.

Until then, Yusei wasn’t alone anymore.

…Maybe he was a bit more alone then he used to be. As school for Yusaku picked up, and his classes involved him more, not to mention Yusei's job, Yusei had to get used to not having Yusaku around 90-100% of the day again.

School wasn’t the easiest transition for Yusaku. Being around so many people could be overwhelming for him. Yusaku was far from outgoing, too, making friends was really hard for him. It was hard for him to reach out to them, and often people around Yusaku didn’t try to reach out to him, either. But school was still important. Even without the education part, it was still good for Yusaku to go. That way he was around other kids his age, he could start to understand them better, learn to get along with many different people and eventually make friends. Staying home and isolating himself wouldn’t help Yusaku any, even with Yusei doing his best to help Yusaku however he could.

Yusaku started off in a smaller class, and over time became part of bigger and bigger classes. It was hard, but Yusaku learned and adjusted. He’d never be outgoing, but that was never the goal. He became more comfortable in larger groups of people, and started feeling less alienated from his peers.

He even was able to become friends with one of his classmates.

And later on, far down the road, he would be able to become friends with a couple of others.

It was might have seemed like a small difference to someone else, but for Yusei, hearing Yusaku come home and talk about the project he and his friend worked on together in art class? Seeing Yusaku leave in the morning with a smile on his face? It meant the world.

Yusaku got back from school one afternoon while Yusei was working on his motorcycle. (The wheels were a bit flat, and his brakes needed to be replaced.) Yusaku took his shoes and jacket off at the door, left his backpack next to the table, and set off in search of a snack.

“How was school?” Yusei called out. He didn’t leave his project, but he paused so he wouldn’t be shouting over his work. That wouldn’t help anyone.

“It was okay.” Yusaku emerged from the kitchen with a small bowl filled with grapes. “Gym day.”

“Ah.” Yusei nodded. Right, physical education. Yusei was very unfamiliar with how school worked himself, but every other day or so it seemed, students were required to run around, play sports, and that sort of thing. Not that exercising was bad or anything. But Yusaku hated every second of it and wasn’t good at any of it. Physical education was always the worst part of Yusaku’s grades.

Yusei wasn’t sure how he would’ve done at it, or Jack or Crow, for that matter. Probably better than most other parts of school, to be perfectly honest. But he didn’t like to compare Yusaku to anything but himself. Yusaku tried his best at everything at school, even the parts he hated. Yusei knew that, and always reminded him that if he did the best he could, that was all that mattered.

It was a world unfamiliar to Yusei, but he did his best to understand and support Yusaku as much as he could.

Yusaku still pushed himself over grades, though, even if no one else did. Gym class days frustrated him. That never changed.

"It wasn't all bad, though," Yusaku went on as he walked back to the table. "Not much homework, just reading."

"That's good." To Yusei at least, it seemed like school gave out a lot of outside homework on top of how long school days already were. At times, too much homework. Yusaku only started getting this homework a year ago, too, so why did school want to eliminate all of Yusaku's free time now? "Do you want to do that now or later?"

"Now."

That was fine by Yusei. He was going to be working for a while still, and Yusaku had long ago mastered the art of tuning out mechanical work noise to do homework.

They were both silent for some time after that. Yusaku went through his assigned reading while he snacked. Yusei finished up his repairs. It was calm. Peaceful. They both needed moments like this, deserved moments like this. But it couldn't last. Yusei regretted he would have to break the peace, but it was for the best. Once Yusei was done with his work, and Yusaku was done with his reading, it was time to talk.

"I need to tell you something. Warn you, I guess," Yusei said. "It'll probably be easier to hear this here, at home, but I'm worried it'll come up at school without warning, and I don't want you to be hurt. It's duel-related."

Yusaku closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them. "Okay."

"There's this company, SOL Technologies, that announced it's working on a new project earlier today. A virtual world where duelists will be able to log in and duel each other. They're calling it Link Vrains. It's becoming popular already, so I wouldn't be surprised if your classmates start talking about it."

Yusaku remained silent.

"You can log in some time, if you want. I'm willing to go in with you, or you can go alone if you'd prefer that. Or, if you don't want to log in, you don't have to. Do whatever's best for you. No matter what, I'm here for you."

Yusaku never gave a response to that, and Yusei didn't bring it up after that. He wasn't sure if Yusaku just wanted nothing to do with Vrains ever again or if Yusaku wasn't sure how he felt about it yet and still needed to decide what he wanted. Either way, Yusei didn't mind. If Yusaku needed time, he'd wait. If Yusaku wanted to avoid it, he'd avoid it. He mostly just wanted to make sure Yusaku would be safe at school.

Once Yusei's motorcycle was fixed up and ready to drive, he immediately wanted to take it out on a test run. Better to be sure now that it really was working properly rather than later if he was in a hurry. Though, honestly, the main reason was that it felt like it'd been too long since Yusei had gone out and driven his motorcycle. The streets were his to drive on now, for everyone to drive on now. They called to him.

He made sure to let Yusaku know he was going out, what he was doing, when he'd likely be back. Yusaku, who was tinkering with some project in his room, told Yusei to be safe. 

When the motorcycle started running, it was purring like a kitten. The wheels had equal amounts of pressure in them. The world was Yusei's dueling track. He had no intention of dueling; he left his deck at home. But he was ready to speed through the streets (within the limits of the law. He'd spent enough time in jail for a lifetime), 

At the first intersection he reached, it was clear the breaks were working better than they'd had when Yusei first put together this whole thing. Good. That didn't mean this little test run had to end, however.

Trees and buildings blurred together as Yusei rode. In that moment, it was just Yusei, his motorcycle, and the wind around him. It'd been far too long since he'd taken a ride like this. It'd been at least a week, anyway. Too long in Yusei's opinion.

In that moment, if you were to press him, Yusei would honestly say that yes, going fast did make him feel alive.

It couldn't last forever, of course it couldn't. But he still enjoyed it while it lasted. On his way back home, he passed by his workplace as well as Martha's. 

When he arrived home, Yusaku was sitting at the table, looking down at something Yusei couldn't see.

"Hey," Yusei greeted him. "What's up?"

Yusaku jumped in his seat before hiding whatever he was holding under the table. “Hi.” He looked back down at what he was holding, then looked back up at Yusei, wearing a confused expression. “…Can I ask you for a favor?”

“Sure. What is it?” Yusei sat down next to Yusaku.

Yusaku put what he was holding back on the table. It was his old deck. “Can you help me with this? Can you help me make it better? I probably need new cards…”

The deck was handed over to Yusei, which he took. “Of course, no problem.” Yusei’d never looked at any of the cards closely, so he leafed through it. The cards were all old, which wasn’t unexpected. The deck was at least seven years old. Still, they were older than Yusei expected. There was a healthy mix of Spells and Traps in there. The majority of Monsters seemed to be Light Attribute cards. It had a few opportunities for Special Summons, but it was mostly based on Normal Summons and Tribute Summons. Not necessarily a bad thing, but these days Yusei was far more used to decks built around Special Summoning.

“I can’t offer you any cards from my deck,” Yusei said. “It’s very different from yours. But we don’t necessarily need to get new cards yet, we’ve got a lot of spare cards around here. Let me see if I can find any, I’m sure we have Heart of the Underdog around here somewhere…”

Yusei, Jack, and Crow had each developed some hoarding tendencies when it came to cards while they were growing up. Back then, it was born out of necessity. They didn’t need to hoard cards like that anymore, but old habits could be hard to shake off. They rarely got rid of any cards; when they did they were usually giving them away to someone that needed them. Yusei wasn’t exaggerating when he said there were a lot of cards in their home that were rarely if ever used.

Yusei found a decent stack of cards and went through them together with Yusaku. As they looked, the two of them talked together about what kind of deck Yusaku wanted and what kind of strategies he wanted to use. Yusaku had a really solid idea of what he wanted, and thankfully Yusei was able to find most of what Yusaku was interested in at home. There were a couple of cards they’d need to find in a shop somewhere, but Yusei didn’t mind.

While looking at cards, Yusei slowly sat down the cards he was looking at on the table and looked over at Yusaku. “Can I ask you something? I’m just curious. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“Okay.”

“Why do you want to improve your deck?” Yusaku had warmed up a little towards duels recently, when he was in a safe space with safe people. But that was just about duels actually happening, and watching duels. Yusaku still straight-up refused to duel, and Yusei wouldn’t push him on that, but Yusei couldn’t see why Yusaku would want to improve a deck he didn’t and wouldn’t use.

Yusaku looked away, and for a moment Yusei thought he wouldn’t answer. “…I’m still dreaming a lot about duels.” About losing duels. Yusaku kept him updated about his nightmares whenever he felt like he could talk about it. “I’m still afraid of duels and losing even though I don’t duel. But…maybe if I have a deck I feel more comfortable with, I won’t feel so anxious all the time.”

“Makes sense. It’s easier to be confident when you know your deck.”

“Kids at school are obsessed with dueling. Whenever they talk about it I feel more anxious. They know I don’t like dueling, they don’t talk to me about it or ask me to duel. But I don’t want to be so afraid of what they’re saying. I also don’t want to do this at school, though… If they see me looking at my cards they might think I changed my mind or I want to duel now. I don’t want them to know.”

“You don’t have to tell them. This can be our secret. Don’t think about it like you’re working on a deck. Think about it like you’re taking care of yourself so you can sleep better at night. Having a better deck doesn’t mean you have to or want to duel.”

Yusaku smiled. “Thanks, Dad. I hope this helps.”

“Me, too.”

Work on Yusaku’s deck wasn’t finished overnight. They weren’t able to find all the cards they needed right away, even when they started searching in card shops. It took longer than Yusei thought it would, a couple of weeks. Yusaku looked so happy when they found the last card though, and the success made it more than worthwhile. 

Even then, though, Yusaku didn’t use it. Not that Yusei ever expected him to. But it sat safely in Yusaku’s room, untouched but helping him feel a bit safer than before. Yusaku still had nightmares, but they were less frequent and less intense than before. Any improvement at all made Yusei happy, though he wished he could stop those nightmares completely.

Yusei kept the rest of the team updated, too. He didn’t mention Yusaku’s improved deck, since Yusaku seemed to want to keep it private, but he gave them other updates about Yusaku. His grades were good, as far as Yusei was concerned, and he was enjoying his hobbies more than before. The other day he started assembling a robot kit called “Roboppy” who was apparently meant to clean houses but Yusaku intended to experiment with its programming. And of course, he updated them on the nightmares, too.

It was Leo who suggested everyone meet up in Vrains. It wasn’t quite the same as seeing each other in person, but it was more realistic for the time being. Of course, he also wanted try out Vrains as well, but he promised that wasn’t his main motivation. Everyone agreed it was a good idea.

“I need to talk to you about something,” Yusei told Yusaku after the plans were solidified. “It’s about Vrains.”

“Okay.”

“My friends and I are planning to meet in Vrains in a few days. Jack and Crow will be there, and me, too. No one’s going to duel, we’re just going to hang out together and catch up.” Leo might duel after everyone else left, but that shouldn’t be a problem. “You can go with me if you like. You’ve already met Jack and Crow, and Leo and Luna are really nice. It’s okay if you don’t want to go, either, it’s entirely up to you. And you don’t have to decide right away, either. They’ll all understand whatever you decide.”

“...I think I want to go.”

“Are you sure?”

“I want to see Jack and Crow again.” Jack and Crow had visited multiple times since Yusaku had first met Jack. They didn’t always visit together, but Yusaku had grown to like them a lot. “I know you’ll keep me safe. And I trust you, so I trust your friends, too.”

Yusei tried not to tear up. Yusaku was such a sweet kid. “Okay then. Just let me know if you need to leave at any point.”

Yusaku felt safe around Yusei. He trusted Yusei. And he trusted the bonds Yusei had made with his friends. That meant more to Yusei than he could ever say with words.

The meeting happened later in the week, after Yusei was done with work and Yusaku with school. They logged into Vrains together, leaving their avatars the same as they looked in the real world. Yusei didn’t have any plans to duel here anytime soon. Work left him far too busy.

The two of them spawned near the meeting place everyone had agreed on. Jack and Crow were already waiting there. At least Yusaku and Yusei weren't the last two to show up.

"Hey, Yusei! Glad you could make it!" Crow noticed them arrive first. He greeted Yusei with a high-five, then smiled at Yusaku. "Good to see you, too, Yusaku. I hope you've both been doing well?"

"Not much to complain about," Yusei answered. "Yusaku's grades are great as always, and he seems to be enjoying school more."

"Of course his grades are great." Jack barged into the conversation. "He's smart and he's a hard-worker. His grades are much better than mine ever were."

"...I thought you didn't go to school. Doesn't that mean you didn't have a report card?" Yusaku pointed out.

Jack was speechless at that, and Crow laughed at the look on Jack's face. "He's right, you know. None of us went to school! He doesn't have much competition grade-wise."

"Well, I didn't have school grades, but I do have my duelist rating to worry about. I'll have you know, I've won a lot of duels lately!" Jack protested.

"Of course you have. You're one of the best duelists I know," Yusei said. "You've been doing great."

Jack and Yusei continued on, Yusei allowing Jack to rant to him. Crow pulled out of the conversation, however, and drew Yusaku away a bit. Not far at all, Yusei could see and hear them perfectly fine. He could tell Crow put a bit of difference between them just to help Yusaku tune out of the conversation more easily.

"We're definitely proud of your grades, don't get me wrong. But no matter what happens, as long as you're doing your best in school, you know that's enough for us, right?" Crow asked Yusaku.

Yusaku smiled. "I know."

"I mean, obviously I never went to school. But I think making friends and enjoying the experience is the most important thing, you know? Yusei said you were enjoying school more."

"More of my classes involve computers more now." Yusaku shrugged. "I like computers. Using computers at school is fun."

Before either conversation could continue, Luna and Leo joined the group. Yusaku looked between the two new people who had just logged in next to their group and did his best to hide behind Yusei. Now that Yusaku was reaching his mid-teens, however, it was getting harder for the tactic to be actually successful.

“It’s okay, they’re my friends. I’ve shown you pictures of them before,” Yusei reminded Yusaku. “They’re Luna and Leo. Leo, Luna, meet Yusaku.”

Yusaku seemed to remember now that he’d seen pictures of them before, and what Yusei had told him about them. He poked his head out from behind Yusei’s back. Yusaku usually wasn’t quite this shy anymore, but Vrains must be a stressful environment for him, as a dueling-based virtual world. Thankfully, Yusei had already told Yusaku several times that if he needed to leave they would go, no questions asked.

Luna waved at Yusaku with a smile, and Yusaku slowly walked closer to the twins.

“Hi!” Leo grinned. “I’m Leo, and this is my sister, Luna. We’ve been friends with Yusei for a while. He sort of showed up around our home with amnesia? Turned out to be one of the best meetings we’ve ever had.”

“Meeting dad was for me, too,” Yusaku quietly agreed.

Yusei smiled as he looked at both Luna and Leo. “It’s hard to believe how long ago that was. Feels like it was just a couple of years ago, but you two were younger then than Yusaku is now. You two have grown up a lot.”

Leo had let his hair grow out more than it used to be, and Luna style her hair differently, keeping it in a low ponytail now. They were taller now, and their lives had pulled them in different directions. But they were still his friends, and Yusei was glad to see them doing well.

“Yusaku has, too, from the looks of it,” Luna said. “He’s grown up a lot since we saw that picture he took of himself on your twitter account by accident.”

Yusaku’s face flushed, a clear sign that he was embarrassed. "I guess so."

“I don’t know how much Yusei has told you about us, but I’ve admired Yusei as long as I’ve know him, and I’ve admired Jack for as long as I can remember,” Leo told Yusaku. “Yusei taught me a lot and was always nice to us, and Jack used to be everything I wanted to be-“

“What do you mean, ‘used to’?? Don’t talk like I’ve slid backwards! Jack Atlas always has been and always will be the best!!”

“-so I kind of followed their footsteps, Jack’s especially. I’m a professional turbo dueler now! Not as popular as Jack or Crow, but I’m making my way to the top!”

“Oh,” Yusaku replied. “That sounds dangerous.”

“It doesn’t come without risks. It’s not as bad as when Luna and I ysed to duel on skateboards. It’s pretty regulated, to keep it as safe as possible. You have to practice a lot and be a really skilled driver to get your license.”

“That’s good.” There wasn’t much emotion in Yusaku’s voice. Yusei could tell that the motorcycle driving wasn’t the part that seemed most dangerous to Yusaku.”

“Hey, Yusaku, it’s okay if you don’t like dueling. You don’t have to talk about it,” Luna spoke up.

“Yeah, Luna doesn’t either. She’s a dueling prodigy and she only duels because the rest of us do,” Leo muttered.

“To some people, dueling is everything. It’s a byproduct of New Domino’s history and its culture,” Luna went on. “But I don’t care much for it. Lots of people don’t. Dueling helps me keep in touch with my friends, but I never wanted to make it my career. I’ve gotten into science at school, and inter-dimensional travel has become one of my biggest passions. I’ve been working hard to be able to study it and join the field myself.”

“Inter-dimensional travel?” Yusaku seemed to latch on the subject immediately, and Yusei was glad. He had a feeling Yusaku and Luna would get along well with how much they had in common; they had in group chat conversations, but this was their first face-to-face meeting. 

Luna launched into an explanation. “Our world isn’t the only one out there. The pioneers of inter-dimensional research have seen it for themselves; its an observable objective truth, not just a theory. Many worlds, different dimensions, exist apart from our own. The goal is to make any travel between dimensions possible for anyone, though the starting point will probably have to be between our dimension and another one. Old, imperfect prototypes exist, and have worked at least once each, but nothing is stable enough yet to be reliable. With all the different worlds out there, it would be cool to see them all, don’t you think?” 

“How did you get so interested in this? I like computers a lot, but...” 

“This might seem like a strange reason, but I was drawn in by an interview I read. It was an interview with one of the field’s pioneers: Dr. Misawa. He said he started studying all of this because of one of his friends, who he said had the ability to travel between dimensions all on his own. It piqued my interest because, well, I can do that, too.”

Yusaku stared at her.

“Maybe Yusei didn’t tell you? I can understand why, it’s pretty weird.” Luna laughed. “I’ve had a connection to another dimension, a world covered in a giant forest, for most of my life. I was chosen to protect it. The danger’s passed, though, and all my friends there are safe. I still go over there to hang out with them. It’d be cool if everyone could do that and if more people could meet my friends, and since I can travel there on my own, I figured maybe it’d be possible for me to help out making that possible.”

“That’s really cool!”

Honestly, there wasn’t a lot Yusei knew about Luna’s trips to the spirit world. Without knowing much about it, he didn’t go into much detail about it with Yusaku when he told him what happened all those years ago. That was for another day; maybe Luna would tell Yusaku herself, and Yusei was fine with that.

Once Yusaku was more at ease around Leo and Luna, the group hang out in Vrains was a lot of fun. Everyone got to catch up and chat for a couple of hours, and Yusei loved hearing about what his friends were up to. Yusei was still doing his part to keep the Ener-D reactor under control, and prevent the Mechlord Emperor Genocide, of course, while Yusaku was getting closer to the end of his middle-school education. Jack was defeating every professional duelist in his path as always, Crow was leading his own turbo dueling team to victory, Leo had just gotten his turbo dueling license, and Luna was working on furthering her education. They were all doing well, and nothing could make Yusei happier.

After a couple of hours of conversation, though, Yusaku quietly told Yusei he needed to log out. Yusaku was on the brink of a migraine, seemingly caused by Vrains itself. Yusei said his goodbyes to the rest of the group before he and Yusaku left out, and they all hoped they could meet again together like this soon.

Slowly, Yusaku's headache got better, after they logged out of Vrains. He tried to stick to quiet, dark areas whenever he could for the next couple of days. Yusei made sure to pick up migraine medicine for Yusaku before they ran out of what they currently had, and Yusaku seemed to be fine after that. Once those couple of days had passed, his head stopped bothering him.

It was good to see Yusaku feeling better. Around the same time, however, Yusaku began spending more time alone, on the computer.

Yusaku wasn't exactly sure what Yusaku was doing on the computer all the time. Yusei had long since felt the need to monitor Yusaku's computer usage as much as possible; he trusted Yusaku knew by now not to get into anything too dangerous. Plus, if Yusaku ever needed him, he was there and willing to help out. Yusaku was at a point in his life where he needed and wanted some privacy anyway, both on and off the computer. So, while Yusei didn't know exactly what Yusaku was doing, Yusei wasn't overly concerned.

The two of them at one point had had a conversation about talking to strangers on the internet. Yusei had made sure Yusaku knew what was and wasn't safe. 

And, sure, it'd be nice to know what Yusaku was doing on the internet. Yusei wasn't sure if it was just an increase in homework as Yusaku transitioned into high school, or something else. But he'd also made sure that Yusaku knew he could talk to him about anything, and if Yusaku did want to talk about it, Yusei was ready.

Yusei was ready to talk about it at any time, but Yusaku wasn't. Yusaku wasn't ready until a couple of years passed. And Yusei waited until the moment Yusaku brought it up.

"Hey, dad?" Yusei paused in his work when he heard Yusaku speak; a client had brought him a motorcycle a few days ago that was giving Yusei some trouble still. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Yusei put down his work and gave Yusaku his full attention. "What's up?"

"I...I, um..." 

"Is this related to your nightmares?" Yusei asked, trying to help Yusaku fish for whatever the right words were for what was on his mind. Yusaku's nightmares weren't as frequent as they used to be. Even now, though they weren't as bad and happened less frequently, they still bothered him. "Did they get worse again?"

"It might be related?" Yusaku didn't sound sure. He looked down at the motorcycle Yusei was working on. "I still have the nightmares, yeah. But after the initial panic, something about them still bothers me. I don't know what happened in that incident, in the bigger picture. I know what I went through, but I don't know what it was for, or who even kidnapped me to put me through that. There's always this fear of the unknown in the nightmares, too. I've been wondering if maybe I knew those answers, maybe it would be easier to move past."

"Are you asking me if it's okay to try to look for those answers? Because I'm okay with it, as long you're okay."

"I...already started looking," Yusaku said. "But they don't seem to be out there. It's like the whole incident was covered up, no one talked about it. There don't even seem to be any news articles, not even from when we were rescued. So I also started looking deeper, making sure nothing I did could be traced back to here, or to either of us."

Yusei wasn't sure he remembered when Yusaku learned how to be a skilled hacker, honestly. Yusaku's skills had improved a lot over the years, even when Yusei had stopped looking long ago.

"I looked deeper, and finally, after a decade, I now lead that might get me the answers I need. I found some files that were hidden that probably should've been deleted. Those files connected a group called the 'Knights of Hanoi' to the incident. I did some looking into who they were, and that was easy to find. Apparently they're a hacker group that has been attacking Link Vrains."

"Do you think those Knights of Hanoi people were responsible for the incident?" Yusei asked.

"I'm not sure," Yusaku admitted. "But I think they might be the only chance there is at getting answers."

Yusei wasn't sure how to feel about this. Getting answers was clearly important to Yusaku, but this sounded dangerous. Yusei wasn't sure if it was truly worth it at this point.

"You're not joining some antagonistic hacker group, I won't let you do that. I've dealt with enough antagonistic groups for a lifetime. Trust me, you don't want to be a part of that."

"No, I don't. I don't want to try to join them or anything. I want to go after them until I find someone who can give me answers."

"If they're attacking Link Vrains, you'll probably have to duel against them," Yusei warned.

"I wasn't expecting to have to when I started this, but I can't say I'm surprised now that I'm sure I will. They prepared me for this moment."

That wasn't what Yusei was worried about. "Are you going to be okay dueling? Plus, if you're going into Link Vrains, you've gotten migraines every time we've logged in there. Are you going to be okay in there?"

"I'll try to be." Yusaku shrugged. "I'm only planning to log in there for short periods of time. I don't intend to miss school in this or let what I'm doing effect my grades. I just..." He sighed. "I've been suffering over this for ten years. I've been getting better, I know. But if I don't do something about it..."

It had been a decade. It didn't feel like much time had passed at all, but the incident happened ten years ago. Yusei met Yusaku ten years ago. Part of Yusei still saw Yusaku as that little kid who couldn't stand to be around people talking about duels, who took years to completely open up to him, who Yusei wanted to protect from everything he could. But Yusaku wasn't 6 anymore. He was in high school now, he was 16 now. As much as Yusei still wanted to protect Yusaku, he was growing up. He didn't need that protection as much anymore. Baby birds learned how to fly eventually.

This didn't feel too far off to revenge, in Yusei's book. Especially if the Knights of Hanoi were directly involved in the incident. Yusei had been in that boat before. Most people who reached the other side said that revenge wasn't worth it, but if Yusei tried to say that, he'd just be a hypocrite. He'd sought out revenge against Jack for stealing his card and his bike, and it led to Yusei to invaluable friends, to learn more about the parents he never got to grow up with, and to the world being saved. Yusei couldn't regret that. Yusaku wasn't much younger now than Yusei had been back then. Maybe it was Yusaku's time to learn how to fly, like how Yusei had.

"I just want you to be safe. If you're sure you'll be okay, then here." Yusei reached into his back pocket (he never kept his deck too far away) and leafed through his deck until he found Stardust Dragon. He handed the card to Yusaku. "You don't have to use them, but take Stardust Dragon at least for luck. If there's any way I can help you out, let me know. I'm not as good with computers as you, but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. And, don't feel like you have to hide anything from me if you don't want to. I'm here if you need me, I'm here to listen." Yusei smiled softly, looking at Yusaku. "I'll let you do this, but not by yourself. You're not alone. I'll always have your back."

Yusaku smiled back. "I won't forget that. Thanks, Dad."

The two of them shared a big hug that lasted several minutes.

Yusaku was growing up. Maybe it was time for him to spread his wings. But nothing could stop Yusei from being there, every step of the way.

**Author's Note:**

> I thought I was going to say something more about this story in the end notes...but it looks like I've forgotten. Well, if I remember later on, I'll come back and edit this.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this fic, and if you read the whole thing, I really appreciate it. Thank you.


End file.
